Traditional Greek cuisine is a country-style simple cuisine. It has had many influences during the centuries from ancient Greek, to Middle Eastern and Turkish, and regionally also (especially the islands) Spanish, Italian and Southern French. At its best (usually found at selected homes and almost never in restaurants) it can be pleasant and very few non-Greeks would dislike it.
Reality alas is harsher: When it comes to eating out (restaurants, tavernas etc) the quality of food is from mediocre to bad with few notable exceptions. One reason is that for the last two generations the culinary aptitude of the average Greek fell well below zero.
Crete in particular has a diverse and very interesting cuisine. My experience so far is that some small restaurants, where the "mother" cooks daily local dishes are the best places to eat on the island. The area being a rather rich area, one can find in later years a variety of "european" or "pseudo-Italian" restaurants. These are expensive places which typically have a nice/luxurious atmosphere, usually good ingredients but where the cooking art is in most cases simply unacceptable. Some exceptions also exist.
The list is arranged into an alphabetic order by name (spelled with latin characters) of the restaurant.
This is a nice restaurant with traditional Cretan fare. It is housed in a nice building creating appropriately the atmosphere of a traditional eatery. The food is done well (good pitarakia, splinogardouma and salads) without peaks of excitement. The service is very good.<E. Kiritsis, Feb. 2001>
This is a new taverna with traditional Cretan fare and a few new recipes. The atmosphere is simple and the service excellent for such an establishement (it helped that the owners worked in Germany before). We had several appetizers (dolmades, eggplant with cheese, dakos etc) all excellent. The Cretan risotto (pilafi) was also very good. The best white wine by the pitcher I have tasted in Crete. This place is good and I recommend it.<E. Kiritsis, Feb. 2003>
This is a little restaurant (4 tables) and mostly bar, in the old town of Heraklion. It is established in an old house, and the decoration and atmosphere is excellent (too smoky though). A circular fireplace in the middle of the room is a real plus in the winter. The menu is short with mostly pasta and other dishes of the "pseudo-Italian" variety. They are done well though. Excellent selection of Greek wines, but too expensive (factor 2.5-3.5 applied on retail price). This is the only place I know in Crete (and one of the very few in Greece) that has correct wine glasses. I am impressed!<E. Kiritsis, Dec. 2000>
This is a restaurant located near the Roman styled bridge past Knossos. Serves traditional Cretan dishes. The last time we have been there we were dissapointed compared to previous times. A small variety of appetizers mostly uninteresting (xortopites excepted). Beef with eggplant was too tough, lamb with askolymbrous was too acid and salty. The coq meat was not good but its sauce was good. A disappointment.<E. Kiritsis, November 2002>
This is considered the central spot of Heraklion by many, and there is a point to that belief. ``Pagopoieion" translated as ice-factory is housed in the building of a old and long defunct ice-factory that has been renovated with taste by the owner. (Visiting the toilets is a must!)It houses a room serving as the restaurant as well as another one serving as the bar (with arguably very interesting music, although too loud). During most of the year people can also sit out. The menu has very inventive names and oscillates between the traditional and the pseudo-Italian cuisine so much in fashion lately. Some of the dishes I applaud while others are uninteresting. There are two musts in my opinion, the crepes with roquefort sauce and the ``galatopita" (milk pie) with its superb milk/caramel sauce.
The restaurant is expensive and most of the dishes are more fancy that good. They have a good selection of some of the best Greek wines, but unfortunately, they charge three times their retail value. I find this practice (common in the fashionable Greek restaurants) unjustified, since they all invariably serve wine that will be drunk in the coming year (thus no cost overhead), in invariably bad glasses. In this case the glasses are simply unacceptable.
Not-withstanding, this is the best place in Heraklion to have a drink, a coffee and nibble something. It is recommended.
<E. Kiritsis, June. 2002>
This is an old restaurant on Demokratias street in Heraklion, counting various illustrious visitors among its customers. I have eaten there several times so far. The food is mostly traditional and done mostly well. I did like aubergines stuffed with feta. I had a bad experience with wines: a bottle of 1995 Nemea by Papaioannou ordered, turned out dead! The service is excellent by any standards.<E. Kiritsis, Feb. 2005>
This is reputed to be one of the best restaurants in Heraklion. It is located in an old renovated house, on Korais street (famous for its outdoor bars and cafes). The decoration and atmosphere is very nice. It is fair to say that this is probably the classiest of the Heraklion restaurants. There have been some improvements since my latest visit.The ingredients are typically very good. The only weak spot remaining is the quality of cooking. It could be much better especially for a restaurant of this kind. Some dishes are successful (those that require no major art) whereas others are completely off the mark.
The grilled mushrooms were very good, the seasonal salad good. Some pasta dishes (like pasta with porchini) are excellent. The risotto with seafood and saffron is not good (too much safran, wrong type of rice, cooked early and served much later). Pasta with salmon, although a classic recipe, was heavy and with dill that dominated the whole taste. Desserts are ok without being brillant.
The wine list has good choices from the Greek vineyards and also some (mostly undistinguished) foreign wines. The wine pricing is expensive (typically a factor of 3-4 from retail price that in my opinion is not warranted for wines that are drank in the year or two after the vintage). The wine service was much better than the previous time. Moreover, the wine glasses this time were quite appropriate, a long way from the cheap and incorrect variety we had experienced before. In general in my last two visits the service was impeccable.
<E. Kiritsis, Dec 2002>
This is a relatively new restaurant housed in a renovated house in the village of Arhanes. The interior is rustic. The food is traditional Cretan. There are excellent items in the menu as well as others that can be avoided. I ate superb "gardoumakia with zuchini" as well as "knisarokeftedes" and excellent dolmadakia. On the other hand, the "zuchini balls" were too salty, the rooster (not a good quality meat, cooked too dry), rabbit (pan-frying made the meat tough) and wood-oven baked pork (wrong cut for this dish, too dry) were not good (avoid any kind of poultry in Greek restaurants). The white wine by the pitcher is more than honorable, reminding a good specimen of a Jerez fino. It is recommended.<E. Kiritsis, May. 2000>
This is a new restaurant housed in a neoclassic house with newly and well decorated interior. The food is traditional Cretan and is done ok, without really standing out.<E. Kiritsis, Apr. 2001>
This is a relative newcomer in the Heraklion culinary scene and is considered an "in" place by the locals. It is a nicely but simply decorated place. It specializes in fish and seafood. We had several appetizers that varied between the uninteresting/bad (shrimp aumonieres) to very good (grilled calamari and cuttle fish in its ink). There are several dishes of italian inspiration were unfortunately subtle flavors of the sea, vainly strive to surface the omnipresent tomato sauce (with some exceptions). Red mullets that we ordered were grilled inappropriately. The wine list abounds in good (and some less good) Greek white wines. The house wine, (from Arhanes) would have been very good were it not for an oxydation of its nose. A Boutari "Samaropetra" wine seemed mute and mishandled somewhere on the way to the restaurant. Upon request reasonable wine glasses were provided. This is not an inexpensive place.<E. Kiritsis, Oct. 2002>
This is a brand new place. It is a "mezedopwleion", the equivalent of a "tapas" place in Spain. Small portions of delicacies are served to accompany the wine and a good company. The interior is simple but done with taste. The list of dishes is large. I have tried around 10 different ones and the result is unanimous. They are all delicious at worst. A few are exceptional, like grilled plerotus mushrooms and galeos with aioli.This place is also standing out because it has a well chosen list of the best Greek bottled wines at prices that are well below all other places in Heraklion. In conclusion this is an excellent place by any standards and should not be missed. It is highly recommended.
<E. Kiritsis, Jan. 2003>
This is a new place, a down to earth taverna with local food. Cretan appetizers were good. The main fare are grilled meats but the pork and lamp chops tasted were not at their best: cut very thin they were not juicy enough. The dessert (pitarakia and sarikopites with honey) was good. Their white wine by the pitcher can compete easily with more expensive Cretan bottled varieties.<E. Kiritsis, Dec . 2001>
This is a relatively new place, an upscale (pseudo)-Italian restaurant. Nice decoration and atmosphere and professional service. We had some salads and a seafood risotto as appetizers that were very good. For main course, the tagliatelle with salmon were a bit overcooked (and a bit ``over-dilled"). We also had filet of ostrich with prunes and a port sauce. The meat was good but the sauce too salty. The wine list is well garnered in good (and less good) Greek Wines but it is expensive (a factor of 3-4 applied on retail price). The wine glasses were good.<E. Kiritsis, Nov. 2002>
This used to be an excellent place when it had an Italian chef. Since then it is has been a mediocre restaurant.<E. Kiritsis, Oct. 2003>
This is rather new restaurant specializing in local food in particular meats. As with any other traditional restaurant, the meats are badly cooked. Cretans to my knowledge do not know how to cook meat. Not recommended.<E. Kiritsis, Nov. 2000>
This is a tiny, traditional restaurant in the central square of the village of Skalani, held by Kostis and Antonis Steiakakis. Their mother does the cooking and does it well. Superb xynohontros with escargot (in season), excellent wild-green salads, and the best of all, a stew with maratho (the branches of wild fennel). The white wine by the pitcher is drinkable and the red better. The on-going fireplace during winter months is a plus. During the summer the place is becoming more frequented and this seems to affect the quality of some dishes and the service.<E. Kiritsis, Nov. 2001>
This is a young restaurant serving traditional food. The service is very good and the premises very nice. Apart from my first visit there I was not satisfied by the food. A limited selection of semi-traditional dishes that lack character and punch. The restaurant offers several good Greek wines. Another unacceptable feature during my last visit was the condition of the rest rooms (doors could not be closed etc).<E. Kiritsis, Dec 1999>
This is acclaimed to be the best place for fish and seafood in the Heraklion area and from my limited experience here I tend to agree. A simple restaurant whose main strength is the choice of absolutely fresh, good quality fish. They are cooked simply but correctly (rather rare event in the area) Other local dishes are served (octopus, cuttle-fish is a must, sea-urchin salad, raw clams and a variety of green salads) and are done well. The service is excellent. This is not an inexpensive place but I think it is definitely worth the trouble.<E. Kiritsis, Sep. 2002>
This is a modern taverna, housed in a rustic house in the tiny village of Ano Stalos, just outside of Aghia Marina, 10 km away from Chania. The place is very popular and the clientele consists of middle class families (mostly). The cuisine is traditional Cretan and is mostly done well. The kalitsounia with "malaka" ( a local soft cheese of the mozarella type but from ewe's or goat's milk) are superb, those with onions very good, excellent stuffed zuchini flowers and grapeleaves. There are several fried innard dishes that are interesting but the frying is not optimal in my opinion. The white wine by the pitcher was very interesting. The service was not bad.<E. Kiritsis, Oct. 2001>
This is an old restaurant close to Chania, overlooking the Souda gulf, and it has admittedly a superbe night view of the gulf. Many rich and famous must have eaten here if we believe the introduction in the menu. The restaurant serves traditional Cretan cuisine and it does it well. I had very fragrant dolmades, excellent cuttlefish with wild fennel (one of the best recipes of cretan cuisine in my opinion) and nice kalitsounia with wild greens (a bit oily though). The lamb with stamnagathi was also very good. The bread served was not good however. The wine by the pitcher is honorable, made in the jerez style. Finally the service is exemplary<E. Kiritsis, Apr. 2000>
This is simply the best place for traditional Cretan food that I have seen so far. It is located on the coastal road from Chania to Kolymbari, 1.5 Kms before the village. Mrs Eytyxia is the brillant cook that operates here, in a large taverna that can host up to 200 people! I had the best dolmades, vegetable pies, taramosalata and lagana I ever had. Octopus with macaroni and stamnagathi were superb. The preserved (sweet) pergamot was the best I ever had and the loukoumades very good. The place is famous for Chaniotiki tourta ( a meat and cheese pie) which unfortunately we could not taste due to lent. This place is a must by any standards.<E. Kiritsis, Feb. 2005>
This is hailed as one of the best if not the best restaurant in Athens. It is located in a run-down neighborhood of the port. The interior decoration as well as the reception are excellent. We have followed the captain's suggestions and tried first a fish soup made from groupers head, which was very good. We continued with a dish of crabmeat and leeks. An interesting concoction but for the fact that the leeks were raw and completely dominated the flavor in the mouth. A similar fate beheld the mussels dish. The main course was grouper done in a sauce. This was a simple albeit good dish but for the fact that the sauce was too salty. The wine list is very good for Greek standards with some interesting selections. There is a small international section although most of the entries are from off years. In total the restaurant produced interesting dishes, but rather coarse flavors. In a few words the food lacks finesse and complexity. I would rate it slightly below one star level in the Michelin system. It is certainly a good restaurant but the price is steep (20,000 drx without the wine).<E. Kiritsis, Feb. 2000>
THis is an old Athenian restaurant that has been revamped recently. The atmosphere is cosy, but the decoration (dominated by wood) does not show anything out of the ordinary. We had a set menu. The amuse bouche was based on the traditional tastes of tarama and eggplant salad and was done well. The first course was a tomato and green salad on a bed of grilled formaella ( a local cheese from Arahova) and it was very good. The main course featured pan fried lotte accompanied with a steemed fennel, a superb basil flavored potato puree and a beurre blanc sauce. The dessert consisted of a fondant au chocolat which was excellent (although this requires a bit of good timing and not too much art). Overall, the cooking is boldly flavored and rests on traditional tastes. Although this is not a place for finesse, the food is pleasant and I enjoyed it greatly. The service was very good. I have not managed to assess the wine list.<E. Kiritsis, Feb. 2001>
This is a place for wine lovers. It is located in a simple house and the decor is dominated by wine boxes lying here and there. Not a place to bring your Valentine unless she likes wine. The food is basic, good and essentially there to acompany the wines. The wine list is a gem for Greek standards. A complete list of all good greek wines and an impressive list of French and other wines all well priced (note the wine lists in Greece that contain French wines have invariably bad producers in bad vintages at stratospheric (=third world) prices). This place is a must.<E. Kiritsis, Feb. 2000>
This is a tiny fish bistrot, in the "hot area" of Psiri in Athens. It has a limited selection of dishes ranging from seafood salads to pastas to fresh grilled fish. I had salmon sashimi cured in soy sauce (good), a mussle and shrimp salad (ok) large steamed mussles (ok) seafood spagetti (good) and lobster spaggeti (the tomato sauce killed the lobster). A very limited selection of Greek wines which are good. Wine prices are 2.5 times the retail prices. The total per person was 11.000 drxs which makes the place expensive for what it offers. The wine glasses were below the unacceptable level and the service not good.<E. Kiritsis, Nov. 2000>
This is the best restaurant in Greece. It has one star in the Michellin guide and it deserves it. It is hosted in the nice and classy Pentelikon Hotel in Kifissia. The room is decorated in a minimal art-deco style with lots of taste.We had a braised fennel dish with smoked squab (good but the squab was a bit too smoked for my taste) and a balotin de lagoustines (classic dish, excellently made). We then had a rascasse steamed with its juices in a sauce (very good) and a John Dory fish (saint pierre) in its juice (superbe). The cheese platter contained four choices from France (rather uninteresting, probably due to the fact that Greeks do not particularly appreciate the good French cheeses) and four local ones (well chosen). For dessert we had a millefeuille (good cream, not so good fyllo), a Medicis au chocolat (excellent) and a collection of three small flavored cremes brullees (very good). Overall the cuisine is not inventive, classic rather, with good ingredients.
Service was very good until the place got packed. After this the service became slower. The wine list is well furnished in the best Greek wines where a factor of 2.5 to 4 is applied. There is a big list of French wines. For some regions there are mostly negociant wines not in good vintages. For other regions, better producers are chosen. We had a white by Gerovasiliou (very good) and a chateau Semeli by the glass (very good). The sommelier was not particularly knowledgeable. All of the above for around 40.000 (~ 125 Euros) a person which is the price you will pay in a two star restaurant in France. But if you are rich, or stuck in Greece, then you might end up here.
<E. Kiritsis, Feb. 2001>